


Glitter Lizard

by aliencupcake



Category: Original Work
Genre: Aliens, Hair Brushing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 12:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11851152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliencupcake/pseuds/aliencupcake
Summary: Stellan doesn't understand the appeal of glittery symbionts; Viffuli doesn't understand his lack of appreciation.





	Glitter Lizard

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Artemis1000](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis1000/gifts).



“I'm infested with living glitter, and I’m supposed to be okay with this?”

Viffuli struggled to make Stellan understand his situation. It wasn’t nearly as horrifying as he believed, no matter what odd questions he was asking.

“The symbionts are why you can understand me in the first place. Otherwise, we’d be talking nonsense at each other. It’s all very complicated, you see. My native tongue is an absolute mess for traditional translators,” said Viffuli.

Stellan just didn’t seem to comprehend anything, or perhaps he was simply willful. He had crashed on Viffuli’s planet and needed immediate medical attention unavailable any other way. Injecting him with the glitter symbionts had been the only way to save him. Viffuli hadn’t wanted to share them in the first place; they were a rare and valuable species, one he’d spent decades cultivating on his planet after they’d nearly gone extinct. They grew nowhere else, requiring more specific living conditions than the most spoiled of princes, and Stellan wanted to complain that he was infected. 

What a strange man he was to be so upset at everything, especially after Viffuli had given him a spare jumpsuit to wear. He’d said something about anatomical differences meaning nudity was much more exposing for his species. That, perhaps, wasn’t entirely illogical. Viffuli could keep his reproductive equipment hidden until he needed it. He’d still tied a thin piece of fabric around his hips, just under his tail in order to conceal his backside. The red matched his spots and contrasted nicely with his bright blue scales, so he didn’t mind covering up more than usual.

“Understanding you wasn’t exactly my highest priority,” said Stellan.

“Really? Meeting a new species didn’t matter?”

“Not once I discovered your personality.”

“Fascinating. I’m your reason for continued survival on this planet, and you insult me. How fascinatingly reckless.”

Viffuli should have been insulted by Stellan’s attitude, yet he couldn’t muster up the outrage. Stellan was a couple inches taller and slightly wider than the slender Viffuli, smooth golden brown skin without any scales covering enough muscles to give pause. He lacked a tail as well, though they had the same number of limbs otherwise. It was a striking contrast between Viffuli’s blue and Stellan’s brown. Possibly, the visual interest was why he hadn’t retaliated against Stellan’s attitude.

“I can feel them in my brain.”

“Of course. They’re an advanced species; why would they leave your mind alone?”

“I liked my mind as it was.”

“I’m sure you did, but the enhancements shouldn’t be anything undesirable, based on what I’ve learned about your biology. Why are you making that face?”

“I didn’t want to be enhanced.”

“I don’t understand your objections. Have you looked in a mirror? Your eyes are positively fetching now.”

The symbionts were show-offs, creatures that didn’t like to limit their effects to the unseen. Stellan’s eyes had been a cloudlike dark gray, and now the irises glittered along the whole visible spectrum of light, a multifaceted, ever-changing rainbow that shifted whenever Stellan moved or the light shifted.

“Did they turn yellow like your eyes?” 

Stellan pushed Viffuli out of the way with unexpected force; that was the symbionts at work, as they did improve strength. After Stellan found the nearest reflective surface, he squinted at the image of himself, somewhat defeating the point of looking at his eyes in the first place.

“What the fuck?” said Stellan.

“I suppose that’s not an unreasonable question, though I already explained the symbionts. They tend to show up in a subject’s eyes. Surely you can see that now?”

“Yeah, I can see it.”

“There’s no need to sound so horrified.” Viffuli was almost positive that was horror he heard, and it didn’t sit well with him. As bizarre as his surprise guest’s reactions were, it was not an enjoyable experience to share his shelter with someone so unhappy.

“You are horrified, aren’t you?” He had to ask in order to be certain.

“You would be too if you had invasive glitter in your bloodstream.”

“It would have killed me. My species is not compatible with it. Honestly, it’s not fair that you get your mind expanded. You’re speaking a whole new language, and you don’t even know it.”

“I can tell.”

“It’s remarkable, even if your accent is atrocious.”

“Excuse me? There’s nothing wrong with my accent.”

“The history of my species’ use of languages and the conventions thereof would take hours to explain at the very minimum, but, trust me, your pronunciation is ear-splittingly horrible.”

“Maybe I’m mispronouncing everything as a tactic of psychological warfare?”

That startled Viffuli into laughter. “If that is your objective, I wouldn’t announce it, but it is admittedly quite effective. I didn’t know our phonemes could _do_ that.”

“I’m a man of many accidental talents. And what is that noise you’re making?”

Viffuli trilled again. “That’s how my people express amusement. I’m laughing. You couldn’t tell?”

The stiff way Stellan carried himself suggested he hadn’t stopped being afraid or angry, but maybe he was relaxing enough Viffuli could have a sensible conversation with him. It didn’t matter all that much at the moment, though, as he was running low on energy. Without bothering to consult Stellan, he walked to the back of his compound, towards his sunning rock. He needed the sunlight; ungrateful aliens with bizarre priorities weren’t the best way to start the day. Glitter symbionts were sensible; the species that called itself “human” was not.

“The symbionts’ translator function didn’t give me an encyclopedia of alien laughter. And what are you doing now?” said Stellan.

“You don’t expect me to go the whole day without sunlight, do you?” His sunning rock was dark, warm in the heat of the day, and smooth. The surface reassured him, its solidity returning some of his flagging confidence. Dealing with Stellan unsettled him, none of his reactions adding up.

Viffuli had closed his eyes after laying himself down on his stomach, but he could hear Stellan shuffle and sit beside him. The sunning rock was wide enough for several of his species, not that he had companions in his compound of glass and stone; Stellan had no need to sit so close, though the proximity might make a conversation easier, as long as that conversation included more than being shouted at by an incomprehensible man. Since Stellan didn’t start speaking, Viffuli opened one eye and chanced a look at him.

Sunlight fell on his golden brown skin and long chestnut brown ponytail that struck Viffuli as impractical for space travel. All hair seemed impractical to him, as his species had proper scales instead of soft skin and ineffectual fur. There was no reason to keep so much of it on one’s head while traveling through space, unless it was some sort of status decoration. It was shiny enough to be such a marker.

Stellan sighed before he spoke. “I don’t expect you to do anything. Especially not when you’re lounging on a rock like this is summer vacation.”

“We don’t really have seasons like that. And I’m lounging for my health.”

“Right; you’re a giant blue lizard.”

“Your powers of observation are astounding.” It was easier to deal with annoyed glitter-eyed aliens in the sunlight, which didn’t stop Viffuli from expressing some irritation.

“I don’t mean that in a bad way; I don’t care if you’re a lizard. It’s the living glitter that bothers me.”

“So you’ve said. I told you that it’s a rare and valuable species, did I not?”

Stellan pressed his palm to his forehead in a gesture that Viffuli had never seen before but assumed indicated some kind of distress based on contextual cues.

“You told me. Do you not understand that creatures invading your body might disturb someone? Yes, even if they’re keeping me alive.”

“If they’re keeping you alive, what is the problem?”

“They’re inside me. How is that not fucking weird?”

Viffuli flicked his tail in the air, trying to feel the breeze on it. Human’s bizarre irritation refused to dissipate, so he instead looked up at the trees in the distance with their sparse green leaves. They were like his sunning rock; comforting and familiar, though not drawing the eye in quite the same way as Stellan did. Another being in an obvious state of discomfort should not have provided so much visual interest.

“Symbiosis is valued amongst my people. It isn’t weird.”

Far from calming down at that statement, Stellan instead pulled at his long ponytail; Viffuli feared he would damage it.

“Be careful with your hair.”

“Are these symbionts going to make my hair fall out, too?”

“What? No. They might change its color but they won’t damage it. That yanking cannot be good for anything, however.”

“It’s good for my stress levels.”

Before Viffuli had a chance to argue more, Stellan shot up from the sunning rock and raced inside. He followed, hoping Stellan didn’t intend any property damage. Luckily, none was intended; instead of throwing any supplies around, Stellan stared at himself in a mirror.

“My hair still looks the same.”

“Of course it does. If the glitter symbionts change it, it’ll most likely act on hair that has yet to grow. You might end up with pink roots.”

“I had pink hair when I was in high school.”

“So that wouldn’t be the worst thing, would it?”

“If you could train those things to give people specific hair colors, you’d be a gazillionaire. Even with the freaky glitter eyes.”

Careful study of Stellan’s facial expression suggested the good humor was mere cover for further anxiety, but Viffuli appreciated comments that weren’t about the inadequacy of his personality. “The symbionts aren’t pets.”

Still, Viffuli didn’t want to lose the advantage of this lull. An idea occurred to him, since Stellan had positive feelings towards his hair. He left him worrying in the mirror, squinting and pulling at his hair in that thoroughly counterproductive manner. Moments later, he returned with a multi-pronged black metallic device; while it was used to monitor air quality, it would make a serviceable hairbrush.

“What is that?” Stellan’s reaction was not unexpected.

“Let me brush your hair. It’s good for your stress levels. And you really are going to damage your hair if you keep pulling at it.”

“You can’t be –” Stellan let out the loudest sigh yet. “– you know what? Fine. Everything else is fucking insane anyway. As long as there’s no more glitter involved.”

“Follow me, then.”

Viffuli lead Stellan back to the sunning rock, sitting down and gesturing for him to sit in front of him. His gesture was obeyed, so Viffuli reached out to pull out Stellan’s ponytail, taking his time with the smooth slide of stretchy material against silky hair. It was truly remarkable how the hair spilled out in a glossy sheet once released; apparently, tugging at it hadn’t caused that much damage after all. Stellan huffed the smallest breath of hair at the action. Deciding to take that as encouragement, Viffuli carefully placed the hair tie on the sunning rock and lifted the air quality monitor to start brushing.

The texture of Stellan’s hair was unnaturally soft, and he took his time to feel it as he brushed, though he tried to be as gentle as he could as he worked at the strands that didn’t need all that much brushing in the first place. From this close, he could smell the remnants of the product Stellan used, a hint of something spicy and woodsy. It was a pity he didn’t have any hair products on this planet.

“Is this working?” It was only polite to ask.

“Yeah.” Stellan’s voice had the oddest quality to it, breathier and strained, though not like he wanted to kill Viffuli.

He continued the hairbrushing, finding the action of running his makeshift brush through Stellan’s hair almost as restorative as hours spent on the sunning rock. They were on the rock together, but the extra activity was as good as true rest, even if Stellan kept making those strange noises.

“Are you alright?”

“How are you doing that?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“It feels good.”

Stellan was being more confusing than ever. How was feeling good a problem?

“Like, you know… maybe you should just stop?”

Viffuli complied; he stood up, not bothering to conceal his disappointment. “Did I do something wrong?”

A deep pink stained Stellan’s cheeks when he got to his feet; this was not, as far as Viffuli knew, a normal side effect of hair brushing, not that was an expert, not having any hair of his own. He still didn’t understand the purpose of hair, especially that which required so much product, but he thought he was starting to get some of the appeal, enough that he didn’t want to stop playing with Stellan’s.

“Hair brushing isn’t supposed to be fucking sexy. You’re a giant lizard with no social graces; why do I want to fuck you now? Me. Not the glitter. _I_ want you.”

“I’m sorry about that? In all fairness, I’m not the only one with no social graces, what with how you insulted my personality after I saved your life. That wasn’t necessary. Yes, I am aware of the glitter.”

“Maybe neither of us has any social skills.”

“I cannot deny that’s a possibility. But I don’t find you physically objectionable.”

“See what I mean about no social skills? I can’t even tell how much I’m supposed to be offended.”

“You’re not supposed to be offended at all. I will confess I had no ulterior motive in brushing your hair besides stress reduction, but I’m also not going to complain about the side effects.”

Stellan blinked at Viffuli. “Are you saying you would sleep with me? Would that even, you know, _work_?”

“I think we’re both intelligent enough to figure something out, if you are indeed interested.”

His face had gotten even pinker. It was a most curious and arousing phenomenon.

“I am.”

Ideas already multiplying in his mind, Viffuli put an arm around Stellan’s shoulders.

“Maybe this will help us understand one another better. Shall we?”

Stellan nodded, and, with that, they went inside. 

This was certainly a better use of their time than arguing about glitter symbionts.


End file.
